by Jess Evans
July 10, 2018
In less than a month, I will be joining the team “Only MOSTLY Lost” in the Untamed New England 4-day expedition race in New Hampshire. (Side note: 361 Adventures will be racing there too!) This will be my first time to New England – clearly the best way to see the region is to do an adventure race. When I return, I will gladly share the race stories in blog posts, but in preparation for this event, I thought the name “Only MOSTLY Lost” may need some explanation.
For those of you who grew up loving the movie “The Princess Bride”, (like me) the very fact that I have to “explain it” is sacrilege. But I suspect, there are some out there who are not familiar with this very important and iconic movie. (Disclaimer: I am NOT a movie critic by any stretch of the imagination. Therefore, if you know of or have seen “The Princess Bride” and thoroughly hate it… well, sorry.)
In the movie, the great hero, Wesley, goes on a long distance journey to save his love, Buttercup. The “Only MOSTLY Lost” team is going on a long journey too, but it is unlikely we will save anyone. Sadly, our brave hero is killed by the evil Prince Humperdinck. The hero’s forlorn friends take him to the great, although bitter, Miracle Max who was fired by the evil prince. Miracle Max states wisely that Wesley is not all the way dead, but only MOSTLY dead. Therefore, he is still slightly alive. Miracle Max is able to bring Wesley back to life, and Wesley saves his bride, the castle, and frankly, all the land.
What does this have to do with my team? Not a heck of a lot. We are going on a journey, but that is about as similar to the movie as it gets. We won’t have a goal of saving a princess. We won’t run into an evil prince that tries to kill us. We won’t get lost in a fire swamp with Rodents of Unusual Size (well, this one could happen…) We won’t meet a great miracle worker who is bitter about his last employment circumstances. BUT we are “only MOSTLY lost”, therefore, never give up hope thinking we are completely lost. There will always be a small inkling of “found-ness” in our thoughts and steps.
If you are racing, I look forward to seeing you there. If not, follow all your favorite teams at the Untamed New England website. They are going to have trackers on all of us.
